Skype May Debut Video Calling at CES 2011

With the debut of a front-facing camera on the iPhone 4 back in June and Apple’s big push for video calling with FaceTime, many have speculated when a major VoIP service such as Skype will take advantage of it. It seems the stars may be aligning for CES in January, as some clues have started to pop up this month.

MacRumors is reporting that Skype video calling may finally be coming to the iPhone and iPod touch at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in early January. According to Engadget, Skype is planning a series of “video-related announcements” which could shift the company’s focus in a dramatic way.

“Skype has been telling everyone that it'll be making a ‘series of video-related announcements’ at CES next month… and it's participating in a panel called ‘Video Calling Gets Ready for Primetime,’ so yeah, needless to say, we'd have to guess that Skype's finally getting ready to enter the mobile video calling game in a big way,” Engadget reports. “Anyhow, the final piece in the puzzle filtered into our inbox this morning: a help document on Skype's site detailing making video calls using Skype for iPhone.”

It seems that someone at Skype has jumped the gun and slipped an updated help document into the Skype iPhone app, noting that “users of a number of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad models can use video calling, despite the fact that not all of these devices are camera-enabled.”

“To make video calls with your contacts, you will need an iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, third generation iPod touch, fourth generation iPod touch or an iPad,” the help document reads. “Your contacts will only be able to see you if your device has a camera. Make sure your device is running iOS 4.0 or above and that you are using Skype for iPhone 3.0 or above.”

Of course, the current version of Skype is 2.1.2 and not 3.0, so it seems a safe bet that Skype 3.0 for iOS is coming in January. The updated help document has since been replaced, so only Skype knows for sure!